대학생의 그린워싱 인식이 소비 의도에 미치는 영향: 기업 진정성과 미닝아웃의 조절효과를 중심으로

This study investigates the effect of perceived greenwashing on consumers’ purchase intention, focusing on the mediating role of perceived corporate authenticity and the moderating role of meaning-out orientation among university students. Drawing on signaling theory, greenwashing is conceptualized as a distortion of ESG- related signals, authenticity as consumers’ interpretive evaluation of corporate sincerity, and meaning-out as an individual tendency to express personal values through consumption. Survey data were collected from 290 university students, and the proposed hypotheses were tested using mediation and moderated mediation analyses. The results indicate that perceived greenwashing has a significant negative effect on perceived corporate authenticity, while authenticity positively influences purchase intention. Furthermore, meaning-out significantly moderates the relationship between authenticity and purchase intention, such that the positive effect of authenticity becomes stronger for consumers with a higher level of meaning-out orientation. The conditional indirect effect analysis further reveals that the mediating effect of authenticity between greenwashing and purchase intention varies depending on the level of meaning-out, confirming a moderated mediation effect. These findings suggest that consumers who actively express their values through consumption react more sensitively to the authenticity of corporate ESG activities. This study contributes to the literature by providing an integrated explanation of how greenwashing influences consumer behavior through authenticity and by highlighting meaning-out as a key psychological mechanism shaping ESG-related consumption. The results also offer practical implications for firms seeking to design credible and effective ESG communication strategies.